Side focus?

Joe?

What do you need side focus for? You have an excellent scope. Most of the glass on the gazillion brands of Chinese scopes will not be as good as your Leupy. I have to say, I like side focus scopes for field target because I can reach the side wheel easier but I am a old geezer. There are a lot of good scopes being made now. We have it so good it is unreal. My dad gave me his old Savage 99 in 250-300 many years ago with a 6x Weaver K6. The crosshairs moved when you adjusted the scope. Sighted in, the crosshairs were in the lower right quadrant of the scope. I killed a truckload of game with that combination and never felt slighted. I do feel blessed with so many options these days. Try a good side focus scope, but don't sell that Leupold just yet. Good luck with whatever you do and have fun. Life is short.



Bob in WV

No - except for FT or, very long range shooting, it ticks all my boxes. It is a simple, reliable, everyday scope with excellent glass. If the duplex reticle - with only five aiming points - is not sufficiently cluttered for your tastes, the custom shop can give you whatever you think you need. JMO.

I have to say I love my VX-3i LRP with side focus and feel the same about my Aztec. It's nice not to have to reach all the way to the front of a long scope to adjust the focus as it can be a pain at times. But then again I have other scopes with the front focus ring and I don't feel the need to replace them just for that reason.

If one wants lighter weight or a less complex scope then they can always omit the side focus. As far as it being progress, although I like a decent side focus scope, I consider it to be more like personal preference. But it is definitely the trend and I believe that manufactures consider it an upgrade for sure.

One thing that really bothers me more about scopes, than the side focus and is definitely a trend, is the fast focus ocular adjustment that is being pushed by scope makes. It is definitely not progress and actually a step backwards to me.

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/groups-moving-around-maybe-your-scope-is-the-problem/

I’m a proponent of front focus for many reasons- internal simplicity, reliability, clarity, and mostly more finite adjustability! IMO, but I like SFP!

I can do without side focus,fact ,on some of my side focus scopes the knobs get in the way of reloads....Leupold I love them plus they are lighter than many other brands.

I have more than a few of each, Leo, Night Force and a few other popular brands. For hunting I like the side focus, for target "BR" type it doesn't matter much.

I guess for me to decide between AO and SF boils down to 3 questions:



(1) Do I want to range distance to target using the parallax?

—> Then I need side focus. Because in order to read the writing on the range tape on the AO requires me to raise the gun from the shooting position. Quite inconveniet and time consuming.



(2) Do I ever shoot without a rest?

—> Then I need side focus. Because balancing the gun with one hand while reaching way forward to the AO I find very awkward.



(3) Do I ever do hurried shooting (= hunting, certain timed target competitions)?

—> Then I need side focus (SF) — as it is quicker to focus because the SF turret is closer than the AO.



I do all three. And so I have decided that I will never buy another AO — only SF!



Matthias

I see where your coming from, but if you look at some of the FT shooters that still use front focus they have scale rings at 90deg so they can easily read for yardages! I think ArzRover has a couple?

I tent to adjust the parallax when target shooting so I like side focus when shooting from a rest and the gun is supported.

When hunting either AO or SF works for me (have both) as I usually set the parallax to be around my zero distance (35 yards) and leave it there unless a long shot presents itself and I have time to readjust. If I had to chose one (for hunting) I find the AO more convenient. 

When it comes to DEGREES of rotation for lets say 10-55 yards ( FT applications ) the AO scopes near always excel there have more rotation and therefor greater resolution of distances via Parallax articulation.



SADLY the scaling is at the diameter of the objective bell being generally @ 2 1/2 to 3" which is rather small. Some fit a 90* ring that can be viewed from the sighting position that can give a tad more diameter, tho limited by barrel clearance. In WFTF and some Open you see really tall scope mounting which is an aid if using an AO scope with a ring.



Personally use 80% Side focus optics and the AO focus generally on my field Hunting / Bullpup rifles.

I have both and technical aspects aside, prefer side focus... less monkey motions for me when hunting or pesting. 

My wife and I still use the Elite 4200s, as we really have not seen an advantage worth the extra weight. The biggest reason I have other scopes is the reticles. Steve123 introduced me to ffp and mil/mil scopes and , for the plinking and EBR like competition, I'm hooked. The side focus DOES seem a bit more fragile, but it IS convenient. Advantage of the big wheels is mostly negated by 90 or so of travel, so our old Elites still have as much space between 50 and 55 as some of the seriously big and unwieldy wheels.

Tom, at Leupold, promised they had something for airgunners in the works at the 2018 EBR. Been waiting for it somewhat anxiously, as Leupold has always had light, durable , clear, and precise scopes, compared to most others. Wouldn't bother me a bit to have an AO as long as they had a good, useable reticle. 

BubblerBoy,

I see your question is in regards to durability and in that arena Leupolds are excellent, their lifetime warranty applies to whoever owns the scope (not just the original purchaser) and their service is outstanding.

I can't address the durability of side focus scopes as I own only one and it's on a PCP (no recoil/vibration). It is a lower end Hawke and functions flawlessly.

I will share my opinion tho about front focus vs. side focus in field target.

I've been shooting FT now for a few years with my Leupold 6.5-20 EFR on a 12 fpe HW97. Compared to shooting my PCP with the side focus scope:

1) I find it much harder to keep on the target I am focusing on when twisting the end of the scope....it tends to rotate the gun and scope so I am constantly countering that with pressure in the opposite direction with my right wrist. This gets tiresome when, if you ever watch FT shooters do this, I twist the AO back and forth repeatedly in and out of focus in an effort to arrive at the fine focus I want for range estimating.

2) I have to take the gun from my shoulder to see the yardage indicated on the AO. With a side focus I just open my left eye and look at the numbers on the wheel facing me without dismounting the gun. Also, when I can see the numbers in front of me on a side wheel, I don't just rotate the wheel back and forth looking for the sharpest image, I also watch the yardage indicated on the wheel to see that I keep stopping at the same number on the wheel. 

3) As Motorhead indicated, the Leupold AO has many more degrees of rotation built into the focusing mechanism than side wheel scopes. I find it much slower to use, which gives my eye a chance to do some of the focusing for me instead of the glass in the scope, which is not a good thing to do. I have to try hard to keep my eye relaxed and not let it do any of the focusing. The side wheel is quick and easy to bring the image in and out of focus before my eye does any of the work. 

4) Finally, I believe my 1 inch tube 40 mm objective Leupolds have a little deeper depth of focus than scopes with the larger 50 and 60 mm objective lenses in use on most side wheel FT scopes, which makes it a little harder to narrow my range down. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. 

As JW652 said, Leupold's custom shop offers some really neat reticles. Not all will fit for your 6.5-20 EFR so you'd have to call and talk to the shop. I had them install TS29X-1's in my two 6.5-20 EFR's and TS32X-1's in two VariX-III 4.5-14 AO scopes. I think Luepold is calling those reticles Impact-29 and Impact-32 now and they have some red highlights in the etched glass (not illuminated) that mine don't have.

Here is how a TS29X-1 appears through a 6.5-20 EFR. I've gotten responses in the past that this reticle is too cluttered for some people. I love it...especially on a spring gun I take into the field and play around with target shooting out to 100 yds. and more. In FT, with my gun shooting 10.34 AA Diabolo Field Heavies at only 675 fps, I use hash marks down to 6 or 7. In the field, I've used them all the way to the 28.

Given what I see as advantages and disadvantages in Leupold AO scopes vs. others with side wheel focus, I am still in your corner and shoot Leupold's almost exclusively. I only experienced the Hawke because it came on the PCP I bought, but I am thinking about giving an Airmax 30 a try on my HW97 for FT. And no, I don't want to sell my EFR, lol!

I don't own any AO scopes and only 1 or 2 older non-focusable models. I have many SF scopes and much prefer them personally, simply related to quickness and ease of use and no history of failures. Not sure that one is mechanically more reliable than the other or that one is more likely to fail than the other but I suppose it is possible.

I just believed AO is superior in every aspect except ease of use... 

I just believed AO is superior in every aspect except ease of use...

Click to expand...

Seems I read somewhere, that side focus adds another lens. That is why a good AO scope is actually a lil better optically. ( read it, I never said it was true. but could be) ) I used to have AOsco9pes back when that was all that was available , but now have switched to all SF. Hell, I used to have all scopes with fixed parallax to hundred yard. Sometime I would move the front lens forward to make it have less parallax at short distances. Still do that to my pistols scopes & just did it to a 3-9 Bushnell. Had to heat the glue on the bushnell this time, don't know when they started that.